Black Friday Evolved Screamer Jamboree - Pedal Pawn, RudeTech, and Mythos Pedals
We’ve had a slew of evolved / Tube Screamer adjacent pedals recently, where I felt each one wasn’t a big enough story on its own, while all 3 together here are worth a consideration, even though the humble Tube Screamer is the most copied and most ubiquitous circuit out there - there really should not be a need for any more into that category - but here we are.
I’ve lined them up in order of their feature set - with the simplest one at the start, and the most enhanced at the far end. In truth these are all enhanced to a degree - and somewhat extended range models, while the first Pedal Pawn Cowboy King simply retains the standard control topology of Level, Drive, and Tone - in fact all have that element exactly in common - with the exact same knob layout and legends.
The second - RudeTech Dude Alert! is the most recently launched - in fact just launched in time for Black Friday, that one adds a somewhat confusing Whoa! / Woah! 2-way toggle switch - which gives you the option of LED or Asymmetrical Silicon Clipping - meaning it’s kind of more in OD-1 / SD-1 territory in some ways.
And then finally for the Mythos Envy - we get additional Lows and Clip push-button switches - the first of which acts as a bass boost to give you more fatness, while the Clip bypasses the clipping section for an even more potent output.
I like the typically bassier overdrives - so were I to get any one of these - then the Mythos Envy would be the likeliest candidate, while I have a good score of Tube Screamers already, and I really don’t need another - here below follow the usual summary details per pedal.
Each of these pedals is currently on Black Friday offer - with a discount of either 15% or 25% as you can see by the resulting pricing.
Pedal Pawn Cowboy King - $249 > $187
pedalpawn.com/products/cowboy-king
Controls - Level, Drive, Tone.
A louder, bolder full-on screamer with every knob taper extended for more versatility and more potent output - while retaining the dynamics of the original. A beautifully calibrated version of that classic - featuring just the core 3 controls of the original - but sort of 'on steroids'.
RudeTech Dude Alert! - $169 > $127
rudetech.com/products/dude-alert-overdrive
Controls - Level, Clipping : Whoa! (LED) / Woah! (Asymmetrical Silicon), Drive, Tone.
A rather adjacent spin on the Screamer - where it takes on and improves various elements of the original, albeit the core dynamics are retained. The extra Whoa!/Woah! Switch really just gives you two clipping options - LED and Asymmetrical Silicon - which are both distinct from the original's Symmetrical Soft Clipping.
Mythos Pedals Envy Pro Overdrive NV.9 - $179 > $152
mythospedals.com/collections/pedals/products/envy-pro-overdrive
Controls - Level, Drive, Low (Bass Boost), Tone, Clip (Clipping Bypass).
Probably my pick of the punch here - with that extra 'Low' Bass Boost, and Clipping Bypass for fatter, louder, and bolder sounds. I have a score of Tube Screamers in the reference collection - and as always I lean into the more feature-rich expanded pedals - where nearly all of mine - including the BecosFX Mini Ziffer have a lot more about them than these 3. Where each of these 3 is even then a decent step up from a classic screamer. But then again - everything is comparative - and whether these have lesser features or no - each of these sounds really decent.
Interestingly Andertons did a nonsense Tube Screamer comparison - where they did not realise all of those were simply acting as amp boosters - and hence the core of the sound came from the amp. When you run Tube Screamers though a clean pedal platform rig - all of them can sound quite different - even though they retain core similarities and overlaps!
Have any of you gone for one of these, or are considering pulling he trigger? Now's the right time then - with as much as 25% off being offered as party of Black Friday promotions!
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